Returning
by Kang Xiu
Summary: Finally, the *coughcough* long-awaited third story in the "Protect" series. Fans will of course point out all things that weren't consistant with the first two. *shrug* Please, read! *quirks a brow* But if I were you, I'd read the first two first...


Own? Not me! Third in the "Protect" series. Beginning everyone's pardon for the Tetsuya bashing, but, um, we're not particularly happy with Tetsuya at the moment. (In fact, Tetsuya is now a swear word. "Tetsuya this Tetsuya-ing Tetsuya computer! Tetsuya it all!!") And thanks to my reviewers for their support and all that! *blows kisses*  
  
~~~  
Returning  
~~~  
  
//Oh, kami, kami, kami! I'm so excited and nervous. I can't wait//  
  
Hongo Yui hopped from one foot to the other agitatedly. It was almost time.  
  
Soon she observed a figure walking along the sidewalk to the library where she waited with her best friend Yuuki Miaka, and Miaka's fiancé, Sukunami Taka.  
  
"It's Sunkake Baba!" she announced.  
  
Taka grinned. "You shouldn't call her that. She...doesn't like it."  
  
"Yeah, you learned the hard way, huh, Taka?" Miaka said cheerfully.  
  
"Yup."  
  
~~~  
  
Taiitsukun was leading a teenaged boy of fifteen along with her. He was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, and it didn't look right on him. He wore a blue headband, and he was smiling and talking excitedly to her.   
  
"Taiitsukun, I can't believe I'll be seeing her again, you know? I've waited so long, and I don't think I look good in these clothes, I wish I had my jacket, and I hope everything works out! I can't wait to meet Sukunami-san and Suzaku no Miko, I hope they don't mind me, because I'm really sorry about everything! Do you think Yui-sama still looks the same? It's been so long, well, it hasn't been that long but it's long to me because I'm missed her, you know? And do you think she'll remember the ribbon she gave me? I still have it because I couldn't bear to loose it; I always took good care of it and - "  
  
"Suboshi. Shut up!" The old woman glared at the boy beside her, who bowed his head nervously.   
  
"Sorry. I'm just so excited about seeing Yui-sama and everyone again and I can't wait and we're almost there aren't we?"  
  
"Yes, thank the gods," Taiitsukun sighed.  
  
Suboshi ran on ahead of her. He could at this point see the three people standing in front of library.   
  
"Yui-sama!" he yelled happily.  
  
She smiled and held out her arms. He ran up to her and hugged her.   
  
"Yui-sama, it's been so long! Too long!"  
  
"But now it's over. Now all the waiting is over. We can be together!" Yui said, embracing him happily.  
  
"Ahem," a voice said behind her.  
  
"Oh yeah." She grinned. "I forgot about you people. Suboshi, this is Taka, and you know Miaka. Tetsuya didn't come." She sighed then. "We haven't told him yet."  
  
"Hi, Sukunami-san, Suzaku no Miko!" Suboshi said earnestly  
  
"Suboshi, just call me Taka." Taka put out a hand.   
  
"And I'm Miaka!" she chipped in happily. "You don't have to call me Suzaku no Miko any longer!"   
  
Suboshi bowed. Taka frowned, his hand still outstretched.   
  
"Shake hands, Suboshi."  
  
"What?" Suboshi looked confused.  
  
Taka grabbed his hand and wrung it energetically. "Like that!"  
  
"S-so-ka," Suboshi smiled. "I understand...I think..."  
  
"So," said Taiitsukun, who had arrived, "You didn't wait for me to have introductions."  
  
"Gomen, Sunkake - Taiitsukun-san!" Taka apologized, a fake grin plastered on his face. "Kowai yo!" he muttered.  
  
Taiitsukun hit him. "Kowainai!"  
  
"Kowai yo!"  
  
"Kowainai!"  
  
"Forget it!" Yui protested.  
  
"Taka-san, Miaka-san," Suboshi turned to them both. He took a hand of each and holding them, looked sorrowfully at both students. "I'm so, so sorry!!"  
  
"Daijobu!!!" Miaka exclaimed, "We don't hold it against you that in your past life you killed Taka's family, and tried to kill both of us, and tried to "defile" me, and stalked Yui-chan, and - "   
  
Suboshi winced. "Mi...aka...san..."  
  
"Anyway," Taiitsukun interjected in a long-suffering tone, "His name isn't Suboshi, so don't get used to it. He's called Ryo Arashi now." Seeing everyone's looks, she sighed. "Fine, call him Suboshi! But among PEOPLE call him Arashi!"  
  
Suboshi grinned. "I never liked that name you picked for me. It's much more normal to be called Suboshi or Shun. Sorry."  
  
Taiitsukun found herself glaring again. "Anyway, there's one more thing."  
  
"More conditions?" Taka groaned, "What, does he have to loose his memory too?"  
  
"No, for your information, he does not! But, um, as to that last thing..."  
  
Everyone looked at her expectantly.  
  
"Suboshi, take off your shirt."  
  
"What?" Suboshi wrapped his arms around himself protectively.  
  
"Off with it!" Taiitsukun snapped.  
  
Suboshi shook his head.  
  
"Suboshi, I mean it, you had better LISTEN to me for once!"  
  
"Not in front of Yui-sama!" Suboshi blushed.  
  
"You've seen her naked, she can see you shirtless, now take it off!" Taiitsukun swelled with irritation.  
  
Suboshi turned an interesting shade of pink and took off his t-shirt, revealing a large circle-shaped hole in his chest. There was blood around it and his internal organs were visible. Miaka looked slightly sick.  
  
"What the hell?"  
  
Suboshi looked dejected. "Remember that, Taka-san?"  
  
"Oh...yeah...wait...ow..." Taka spoke jerkily, and put a hand to his head. "I...remember that..."  
  
Suboshi put his hands over the hole, attempting to hide it. "So you had to show everyone that?" he asked.  
  
"This is supposed to be a reminder of what can happen if you decide to become enemies again. It's a memoir. I'm going to heal him, but the scar will stay. I hope you'll decide to stop fighting."  
  
Taiitsukun made a dramatic flourish and it healed, leaving only a large round scar in his chest and back.  
  
"Nice." Suboshi muttered. "Stupid Sunkake Baba, showing off her powers at my expense."  
  
"Do you want to stay in this world or not?" Taiitsukun demanded.  
  
"I want to stay, I want to stay!" Suboshi said quickly. He put his shirt back on, and turned to Yui. "I wish it wasn't this way. I'm sorry."  
  
"What are you sorry for? You can't heal that wound. It's all right." Yui smiled and he hugged her again.   
  
"Yui-sama...I'm so glad I'm in love with you. You're such a wonderful person. You understand." He stroked her hair, then pressed his lips to her forehead. "I'm so very glad I love you."  
  
Miaka and Taka watched with pleased and happy expressions.   
  
"He's worthy of protecting and loving her," Taka whispered.  
  
"I can tell. Aren't you glad?"  
  
"Yeah..." he sighed. Then he noticed something. "Uh-oh..."  
  
"Taka?"  
  
"Here comes Tetsuya..."  
  
Indeed, Keisuke's old college buddy was strolling along the sidewalk to the library, walking the concrete Suboshi had run along half an hour before.  
  
"Uh-oh," Miaka agreed. "No one's told him yet. Insofar as he knows..."  
  
"...He and Yui are still together," Taka finished.  
  
"Uh-oh," they both said at the same time.  
  
They both also watched as Tetsuya stopped dead. Then he shook his head and continued walking.  
  
Suboshi and Yui were still embracing one another, while Suboshi fingered Yui's hair lovingly.  
  
Tetsuya appeared to stare. But he kept walking, shaking his head from time to time. At last he came within hearing range and Miaka and Taka heard: "I'm imagining things, that couldn't be Yui... could it?"  
  
Upon hearing this, they looked at each other, nodded, and then ducked into the library, leaving Suboshi and Yui on their own.  
  
"Yui-sama...you're beautiful..."  
  
"Suboshi..."  
  
"It couldn't be..."  
  
Miaka was still watching through the doors, and started to giggle. Taka whacked her gently.  
  
Taiitsukun vanished conveniently, so that Suboshi and Yui really WERE on their own. They, however, remained unaware of everything but each other. Tetsuya was now less than 5 yards away. The couple finally broke apart, and Tetsuya took this opportunity to yell:  
  
"Yui-chan!"  
  
"Tetsuya?" Yui gasped. Suboshi stood in front of her protectively, then realized what he was doing and came out of his aggressive stance.   
  
"Tetsuya."  
  
"S-Suboshi?"  
  
Suboshi smiled pleasantly. "Yep. It's nice to see you again, Tetsuya!" He held out his hand the way he'd seen Taka do earlier.   
  
Tetsuya simply stared at him.   
  
Yui sighed. "Tetsuya, are you okay?"  
  
Tetsuya opened and closed his mouth a few times, then burst out with, "What were you doing, kissing this maniac?!"  
  
Suboshi bristled. "I beg your pardon! I gave up insanity when I handed in my ryuuseisui!"  
  
"You handed in your ryuuseisui?"  
  
"I promised, in order to be reincarnated, that I would never fight as violently and terribly as I did in Shi Jin Ten Chi Sho, which required me to give up my ryuuseisui."  
  
"Suboshi, I'm so glad! I didn't want to think you could still...." She trailed off.  
  
"Of course not, Yui-sama!"  
  
Yui smiled. "I'm glad to know that."  
  
Tetsuya, meanwhile, did not look happy. "Yui, I don't understand. I'm rich, I'm sane, and I care about you; what's so appealing about him?"  
  
"I'm poor, I'm sane, and I love her more than life. I've died twice for her, and overcome death for her. With Taiitsukun's help I'm beside her once more. Because I love her." Then he looked over at Yui. "No, what am I doing talking? This is your choice, Yui-sama. You chose which one of us. It's your heart."  
  
"I love him. I'm sorry, Tetsuya, that's just the way things are."  
  
"Yui-chan, that's not fair! This...kid is a psychotic killer!"  
  
"I told you, not anymore!" the "kid" said angrily, "Don't you understand, Tetsuya?! The story has been rewritten! And it's almost over! Shi Jin Ten Chi Sho has been closed! I can't get back, and Taiitsukun is leaving and truly closing it! I'm here. I can't go back. Do you understand?"  
  
"Can't...go...back?"  
  
"Yes! I can't go back! I'm staying here with Yui-sama, if she wants me to get in her way anymore. She may or may not want me, but I'm still going to be here. I belong here now. I am a part of this world!"  
  
"Like Taka? You've been reborn like Taka?"  
  
"Right. I'm sorry, Tetsuya. I have been reborn."  
  
"Suboshi." Tetsuya closed his eyes and sighed, then reached out and put a hand on Suboshi's shoulder. "Then I'm the one who should be sorry. All this time I've been acting like you simply broke into this world and stole my girlfriend. But I'm wrong. You've come through the worlds because you were destined to be together. I'm the one who shouldn't be here."  
  
"No. There you are very wrong, Tetsuya. I was reborn because we were meant to be one. But this does not make you out of place. You are a good person. You have protected my dear Yui-sama while I could not. You belong here with us. You are a part of us, both of us, because you affected us. You most certainly should be here."  
  
"Thanks, Suboshi."  
  
"Oh, about that. You're to call me "Arashi" among people, according to our much-beloved ruler of heaven. She obviously doesn't consider us people."  
  
"Obviously," Tetsuya said dryly. "We're being watched, you know. The afore-mentioned Taka and his fiancée Miaka are spying on us from "the Library of the Shi Jin Ten Chi Sho"."  
  
"The demons! Miaka-chan! Taka-chan!" Yui called. "You can come out now!"  
  
Miaka and Taka sheepishly emerged from the library. Taiitsukun also reappeared.   
  
"I see you've figured it all out. Lovely. Now, if you don't mind, I have a universe to attend to. I'll be going now. Sayonara, Suboshi, Yui, Miaka, Tamahome, Tetsuya."  
  
"Sayonara, Sunkake Baba!"   
  
Taiitsukun turned purple. "TAMAHOME!!!!"  
  
"Gomen, Sunkake Baba!"  
  
"Ouch," muttered Suboshi. Taka looked up with swirly-eyes and said incoherently "Itai..."  
  
"Sayonara," Taiitsukun said curtly, and vanished. Tetsuya helped Taka up. Taka, still quite dizzy, staggered around for a bit and then truly regained consciousness.   
  
~~~  
  
"Miaka, Suboshi and I are going out for lunch, wanna come?"  
  
"ARE YOU KIDDING?!!?" Miaka sped over to Yui's side. Suboshi laughed.   
  
"Good point..."  
  
"I'm glad everything has turned out so well, how about you?"  
  
"Of course I am, Miaka! I'm the one getting married this fall!"  
  
"Hai, Miaka-chan, believe me, we're both thrilled!"  
  
"I can tell. You've got exclamation points in your very words. Anyways, we WERE going to get something to eat, neeee?" She smiled winningly at her best friend.  
  
"Ne! So let's go then!"  
  
//Everything is going SO well. Suboshi and I are getting married, Miaka and Taka are too, it's never been better, and even Tetsuya is dating someone. I'm so happy! I can't believe the story's over now, the Shi Jin Ten Chi Sho. That story that caused us so much heartache has been the reason we're so happy now! Thanks to that story, which is ended, our story has begun//  
  
Owari ~ End  
  
(*sarcastically* Oooh, love me.*sigh* That was Tetsuya-ing clichéd. Sorry, people. I had writers' block. Tetsuya! Had I been able to find the word for "story" I COULD have been able to say "The story is ended" by way of ending, however, thanks to my Tetsuya-ing Tetsuya sources, I could not.) 


End file.
